Cutter for wide flat bars

ABSTRACT

An automatic line cutter for wide flat bars comprises a stand for supporting flat bars, a cutting station, a flat bar feeding apparatus for feeding bars to a conveyor line which carries flat bars to a guidable cutter torch located at the cutting stand. A dropping stand is provided for delivering the finished cut product.

United States Patent 1 Ogawa et al.

1 CUTTER FOR WIDE FLAT BARS [75] inventors: KiichiOgawa; Setsuo Shoji;Tomoyoshi Sukegawa, all of Yokohama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan [73] Assignee:Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha,

Kanagawa-ken, Japan [22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 88,278

['30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 17, 1969 Japan 44/91609[52] U.S. Cl 266/23 B, 83/281, 214/8.5 F, 266/23 R 51 Int. Cl .J B23k7/02 [58] Field of Search 266/23 B, 23 E, 23 R; 83/281, 280, 417; 214/85F [56] 1 References Cited I I UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,981,117 11/1934Oakley 266/23 E X [111 3,749,385 [451 July 31, 1973 4/1966 Daniluk83/280 UX 3,279,791 10/1966 Fisher 83/281 X 3,526,395 9/1970 Brown266/23 B X 2,072,667 3/1937 Coe 214/85 F X FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 80,730 3/1956 Denmark 266/23 Primary Examiner-Robert D.Baldwin Attorney-Flynn and Frishauf [57] ABSTRACT An automatic linecutter for wide flat bars comprises a stand for supporting flat bars, acutting station, a flat bar feeding apparatus for feeding bars to aconveyor line which carries flat bars to a guidable cutter torch locatedat the cutting stand. A dropping stand is provided for delivering thefinished cut product.

'8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEE JUL3 I I973 I 3. 749,385

SHEET 1 0F 2 X Y A FIG. I x

F III PM 9-0 Q11 L b I FIG.2 F

f d Lm FIG?) CUTTER FOR WIDE FLAT BARS The present invention relates toa cutter for flat metal membcrs which may serve as reenforcing membersfor use in the construction of ship hulls.

In the construction of ship hulls, reenforcing members of various shapesare used. Where comparatively low strength is adequate these reenforcingmembers may be flat and are then either cut out of wide sheets or out ofmaterial marketed commonly as flat bars.

Up to date, these members have been cut manually out of marked flatbars, the operations necessarily and unavoidably being inefficient, andthe products not being precisely finished and uniform in quality.

The present invention provides an efficient automatic cutter for cuttingout flat metal members of different shapes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there isprovided apparatus for cutting wide flat bars comprising a stand forsupporting workpieces in the form of wide flat bars, means for feedingflat bars at least one at a time from the stand onto a conveyor, saidconveyor being arranged to carry a flat bar thereon to a cutting standat a cutting station, at least one automatically guidable cutter meansat the cutting station positioned so as to be able to cut a flat barlocated on the cutting stand, and means for delivering cut flat barsfrom the cutting stand.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, anembodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing three shapes of flat metal members whichmay be cut out using apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of cutting apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line lIl--Ill of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along IVIV of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of part'of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 2-4. I

In FIG. 2, a and represent means for feeding flat bars 22, b a stand forflat bars fed thereto, c a conveyor line for flat bars taken from thestand, e a cutting tool and fa cutting and drop stand.

Referring to FIG. 3, the stand b comprises a table 2 for supporting theflat bars and a hydraulic cylinder 5 by which the table can be raisedand lowered. In this embodiment, flat bars are piled on the table 2 intwo stacks. Each of the feeding apparatuses a, a is provided withpivotally connected feeder rods la, lb. Rods lb each mounted on a pivotpin 6 and each rod la, lb has a hook or claw 7 at the lower sidethereof. Pivot pin 6 is mounted on the output shaft of a hydrauliccylinder 1, and as the shaft is pushed forwardly, the feeder rod lacatches with its hook 7 the top flat bar in the left hand stack (asviewed in FIG. 3) and the feeder rod lb likewise catches the top flatbar on the right hand stack. As the movement continues, these two flatbars are fed sideways onto the rollers 3 of the conveyor line 0.

Both flat bars will be positioned at a predetermined positiontransversely of the rollers 3 by a centering stop 4 which stops themovement of the right hand flat bar the line and hence of the feedingbars at a predetermined point. The feeding bars la and lb are thenretracted by cylinder 1. Every time flat bars have been fed onto thefeeder rollers 3, the stand cylinder 5 is operated to raise theuppermost flat bars of the stacks to a feeding position.

The flat bar 22, once fed onto the rollers 3 of the conveyor line c, arethen either automatically or manually conveyed thereon to the cutterstand f until their ends come into contact with an end stop 13 whichserves to determine the length of the members which are to be cut fromthe flat bars 22, as will become apparent. See FIGS. 4 and 5. The barsare then simultanteously cut across by the cutting tool having two torchheads 24. In more detail, the flat bars 22 are transferred from the feedrollers 3 to cutter stand rollers 9 as they approach the sizedetermining stop 13. Stop 13 is mounted on running means 15 (see FIG. 4)which runs on rails 10, situated to each side of the cutter standrollers 9, by means of wheels 15d. Reference 15a denotes a handle usedfor positioning the running means 15. A gear 15b is provided at the endof the handle shaft, and this engages with a rack 150 on the runningmeans, whereby the running means can be moved along its rails 10.

Once the flat bars have been positioned longitudinally by the stop 13they are cut by the torches 24, guided by a magnet type cutter guide. Atorch holder 24a supports the torches 24 and is in turn mounted on astand 25 which is movable on wheels transversely relative to the flatbars. The wheels run on a stand 26 which is in turn movable lengthwiseof the flat bars. Thus, the torch holder 24a may be moved both along thewidth and length of the flat bars.

A rotatable magnet, i.e. roller 19 is mounted atop the stand 25. Themagnet roller 19 is movable within a guide slot 27 in a guide plate 18mounted in a guide stand 16. As the roller 19 is driven rotatably alongone edge of the guide slot, so the stand 25 moves on a pathcorresponding to the shape ofthe slot, and hence the torches 24 followsimilar paths across the flat bars 22, cutting across them on a linedetermined by the form of the slot, as illustrated in broken linesin.FIG. 5. The guide plate 18 is shown as including two parts A, Brespectively provided with two different shapes of guide slots; Abeingused for cutting the end of a member into the shapeshown at Y inFIG. l and B being used. for cutting an end in the shape X of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, the guide plate 18 is slidable in a window 28 of thestand 16 so that-part A or part B of the guide plate can be brought tothe central position in window 28 and the magnet, i.e. roller 19 can beinserted in the respective slot 27. Reference 23 denotes the guide linefor starting cutting. As is shown in the drawings, the window 28 isthree times as wide as part A or part B of the guide plate 18 so thateither part A or part B can be centrally positioned. Parts A and B canbe placed upside down in stand 18 to reverse the shape of the cuttingline if desired.

Reference 21 shows an indicating board for cut product sizes.

A hydraulic cylinder 11 at one side of the cutter stand f is operatedafter the flat bars are cut, so as to tilt the cutter stand into aposition as shown by the chain line in FIG. 4 so that the cut flat barson the rollers 9 slide down over a guide plate 17 onto a pallet (notfully shown) in position 14 for receiving the finished goods and fortransferring them elsewhere.

Two shapes of guide slots are sufficient for most purposes. In theexemplary embodiment described, two cutter torches are automaticallyguided simultaneously to complete one cycle of an operation, so that twosheets or bars are cut in one operation. A single torch, or more thantwo could, of course, be used.

Instead of defining the cutting line physically as a guide slot, itcould, of course, be represented digitally and fed to a suitableactuator for the cutting mechanism. The present invention eliminatesmarking operations and automates the operation, and this may improve thework efficiency by up to four times than that of conventionaloperations. The finished products are uniform and excellent in quality.

What is claimed is: 1. Apparatus for cutting wide flat bars, which barsmay be of variable length, comprising:

a supporting stand adapted to support at least two adjacent stacks ofworkpieces which are in the form of wide flat bars; a conveyor adjacentsaid supporting stand, said conveyor being adapted to convey flat barsin a given conveying direction; a cutting station including a cuttingstand; means for feeding said flat bars at least one at a time from eachof said stacks on said supporting stand onto said conveyor, saidconveyor carrying flat bars thereon in said given conveying direction tosaid cutting stand at said cutting station, said feeding meansincluding: feeder rods, each of said feeder rods comprising first andsecond pivotally connected members, and each of said first and secondmembers including an engaging hook on its lower side for engaging a flatbar from one of said stacks;

means for driving said feeder rods in a direction substantiallytransverse to said given conveying direction of said conveyor and acrosssaid stacks of flat bars on said supporting stand, each of saidpivotally connected members of said feeder rods being mounted to engageand slideably feed the respective-uppermost flat bars from said at leasttwo stacks on'said supporting stand in said substantially transversedirection to said conveyor and for then retracting said rods over saidat least two stacks thereby feeding two bars to said conveyorsubstantially simultaneously; and

means for raising said supporting stand after feeding of said uppermostflat bars from said at least two stacks so that the next uppermost flatbars are in position to be fed to said conveyor by said feeder rods;

at least one automatically guidable cutter means at said cutting stationfor cutting a flat bar located on said cutting stand; and

means for delivering cut flat bars from the cutting stand.

2. Apparatus according to claim] wherein said cutter means is movablelengthwise and widthwise relative to a flat bar on said cutting stand;and including guide means for physically guiding said cutter means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said guide means includes aslot shaped to correspond to the finished shape of a cut to be made inthe bar, and a'magnet roller engaging with said slot for guiding saidcutter means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a stop for flat barscarried to .said cutting stand, which stop is movable relative to saidcutting stand in the longitudinal direction of a bar on said cuttingstand, thereby enabling adjustment of the longitudinal position at whichthe bar is cut. 3

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said at least one cutter meansincludes at least one cutter torch.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first feeder rod memberis fixedly connected to said driving means and wherein said secondfeeder rod member is pivotally connected to said first feeder rodmember.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said sup porting standincludes means adapted to receive said stacks with said at least twostacks of workpieces aligned next to each other in a directiontransverse to said given conveying direction of said conveyor such thatsaid feeder rods feed the uppermost flat bar from the stack adjacentsaid conveyor directly onto said conveyor, and feed the uppermost flatbar from the stack remote from said conveyor over said stack which isadjacent said conveyor and then onto said conveyor, the

roller conveyor.

* k t i t

1. Apparatus for cutting wide flat bars, which bars may be of variablelength, comprising: a supporting stand adapted to support at least twoadjacent stacks of workpieces which are in the form of wide flat bars; aconveyor adjacent said supporting stand, said conveyor being adapted toconvey flat bars in a given conveying direction; a cutting stationincluding a cutting stand; means for feeding said flat bars at least oneat a time from each of said stacks on said supporting stand onto saidconveyor, said conveyor carrying flat bars thereon in said givenconveying direction to said cutting stand at said cutting station, saidfeeding means including: feeder rods, each of said feeder rodscomprising first and second pivotally connected members, and each ofsaid first and second members including an engaging hook on its lowerside for engaging a flat bar from one of said stacks; means for drivingsaid feeder rods in a direction substantially transverse to said givenconveying direction of said conveyor and across said stacks of flat barson said supporting stand, each of said pivotally connected members ofsaid feeder rods being mounted to engage and slideably feed therespective uppermost flat bars from said at least two stacks on saidsupporting stand in said substantially transverse direction to saidconveyor and for then retracting said rods over said at least two stacksthereby feeding two bars to said conveyor substantially simultaneously;and means for raising said supporting stand after feeding of saiduppermost flat bars from said at least two stacks so that the nextuppermost flat bars are in position to be fed to said conveyor by saidfeeder rods; at least one automatically guidable cutter means at saidcutting station for cutting a flat bar located on said cutting stand;and means for delivering cut flat bars from the cutting stand. 2.Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cutter means is movablelengthwise and widthwise relative to a flat bar on said cutting stand;and including guide means for physically guiding said cutter means. 3.Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said guide means includes a slotshaped to correspond to the finished shape of a cut to be made in thebar, and a magnet roller engaging with said slot for guiding said cuttermeans.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a stop for flat barscarried to said cutting stand, which stop is movable relative to saidcutting stand in the longitudinal direction of a bar on said cuttingstand, thereby enabling adjustment of the longitudinal position at whichthe bar is cut.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said at leastone cutter means includes at least one cutter torch.
 6. Apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said first feeder rod member is fixedlyconnected to said driving means and wherein said second feeder rodmember is pivotally connected to said first feeder rod member. 7.Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said supporting stand includesmeans adApted to receive said stacks with said at least two stacks ofworkpieces aligned next to each other in a direction transverse to saidgiven conveying direction of said conveyor such that said feeder rodsfeed the uppermost flat bar from the stack adjacent said conveyordirectly onto said conveyor, and feed the uppermost flat bar from thestack remote from said conveyor over said stack which is adjacent saidconveyor and then onto said conveyor, the uppermost flat bars from saidstacks being located adjacent to each other on said conveyor. 8.Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said conveyor is a rollerconveyor having rotatable rollers, said flat bars being fed to saidconveyor in a direction transverse to the direction of rotation of therollers of said roller conveyor.